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Catherine Fitzsimmons
79 Plays4 months ago
Mark and Joe are thrilled to welcome Catherine Fitzsimmons to the show. Catherine is the founder of Brain Lag, an acclaimed Canadian science fiction and fantasy press that has now published fifty books!
Catherine is also a writer, with six novels under her belt, and an artist in other ways. She explains how the press came to be and the role it plays in Canadian publishing.
She's the first guest to discuss early-to-mid-nineties Nintendo-style games. The three discuss the differences between video games, fiction and other narratives such as television. This leads into how Catherine got into music and other forms of art, and how it feeds everything she does.
For more information, check out the show notes for this episode.
Re-Creative is produced by Donovan Street Press Inc. in association with MonkeyJoy Press.
Contact us at [email protected]
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Transcript
Personal Reading Memories
00:00:10
Speaker
Greetings, Mark. Salutations, Joe. sales to Things are going well. So I was thinking a little bit about what question to ask this week, and I'm going deep again, I guess, or maybe weird, not deep, I think. So I'm thinking about like the first time that I read from a book to someone else. Hmm. And I'm wondering, wondering when that was for you. And if you remember what the book was. I mean, I'm, I'm assuming you read to your daughters, but did you read to someone before that in a, and keep it PG? yeah I'm a little embarrassed to answer that, but I will answer it because this, as we've established, this is an honest podcast, an honest and open podcast. I, the first time I recall reading to someone was to my wife well early in our marriage and.
00:01:05
Speaker
And the reason I'm embarrassed is because I remember it was Sidney Sheldon, which is not somebody that I normally read. Okay. but That was the choice. it And what book do you remember? No, I don't remember. I don't actually know any of Cindy Sheldon's books. And how did that go? With all due respect. um that's so I hate gold here. I think I tapped into gold unintentionally, but it's awesome. ah i You know what? I don't think we repeated the experiment very often. um um And then, okay, then fast forward, you know, and then I read to my daughters every single night from early, early on in their lives, you know, far before they can understand
00:01:52
Speaker
until they were probably 12 or something. you know I read every single Harry Potter to them, every single Dr. Seuss, and I ah loved doing it. And and believe that and my one my one daughter is working with ah kids now. And she told me the other day that she is now reading to those kids and they tell her that she's good at it. ah so Well, she learned from the best. and There we go. Yeah. So yeah, what about you? My mind is really deep history. So I remember reading to my brother and I even remember the book when I was, I think I would have been maybe four or five and Mike was a toddler. Uh, it was a book called lookout for pirates.
00:02:38
Speaker
Look out for pirates. I'm fascinated. I've always been fascinated by pirates. It started early, probably because of that book. Yeah. And I i don't think it went that well, though, because whenever I got close enough to the crib, because I would read to him in this crib, he would grab the book and throw it away. That guy. So I might not have been as good at as you were, but I remember that. How come we haven't done a podcast about pirates yet? Oh, that's a good question. I don't know. But I was hoping that our guest might have an answer for this question as well. I have no doubt. Yeah. Catherine Fitzsimmons, welcome to the podcast. Welcome. Thank you. Hi, Joe and Mark. Nice to meet you. Yeah. So what books have you read aloud to people into whom? And your first time, that's what we're looking for here, is the first time you read to somebody.
00:03:25
Speaker
I'm sure I must have read a book to someone before this point, but ah the only distinct memory I have is ah reading to my daughter the same way that you read to yours, Joe. Yeah. And yeah, of course, you know, even as a baby, loved reading to her and she loved when I read to her. I think everybody loves that. is Are there people who don't like to be read to? no I know. I should hope not. I think it depends on the reader. That's true.
00:04:05
Speaker
ah Depends on the voice depends on the reader, but yeah, I think it's a pleasurable experience, but I was just thinking about for sure. All of us probably at some point in our
School Reading Experiences
00:04:14
Speaker
scholastic careers had to read a passage from some kind of book to the rest of the class. And it's interesting to me that none of us mentioned that. Oh yeah. True. I don't yeah i'd probably block that out of my memory. Yeah, I mean, I do actually vividly remember, remember trying to read a passage of Romeo and Juliet to my grade, I think a grade nine class, maybe grade 11 anyway, and trying to do it like properly and just the Snickers and people like rolling their eyes. Oh, he thinks he's an actor. You know what? Yeah. That may actually be the first time I, I often chose writing fiction as, you know, as homework. yeah If I had the option.
00:04:57
Speaker
And so I wrote some Star Trek fan fiction and then read a story to a grade eight class. And, uh, I don't know how interested they were in this story, but the, the biggest laugh I got was when I accidentally pronounced Mr. Spock as Mr. Spick. ah thank you
00:05:16
Speaker
Yeah, like that. Yeah, I do recall now, ah since you mentioned reading to classmates, when I was in high school, my freshman year, everyone in freshman year had to take this sort of intro to high school class for a semester. But for some scheduling reason I ended up taking that class in the second semester of ah freshman year so it ah was kind of an odd experience to be introduced to you know the school I'd already been attending for six months.
00:05:54
Speaker
yes but One of the assignments was to to write a poem. I can't remember the name of it, but it's based on, I think, Lewis Carroll did a poem in which each line starts with a letter that spells out your name. Oh, okay. And I was actually the first person to finish writing my poem, despite the fact that my last name has a Z in it. Oh, right. Yeah. Yep.
00:06:28
Speaker
And the fact that my first and my last name are 20 letters long, we were supposed to also include ah our middle names. But when I pointed out to the teacher that that would make my poem 29 lines long, she said, okay, yeah, you can just ah skip your middle name. 20 is plenty. Now we have to ask if we may, what is your middle name? Elizabeth. Oh, my God. That's a long name but and another Zed and another Zed. Yes. Yeah.
Catherine's Publishing Journey
00:07:02
Speaker
Wow. Okay. So now we've, so we know your whole name now, Catherine Elizabeth Fitzsimmons. Why don't you tell us a little bit about who you are? So I am an author, a publisher with too many hobbies. I like doing arts, baking, playing video games, reading, trying to learn some instruments,
00:07:24
Speaker
ah basically jack of all trades, I guess. So I started out self-publishing my first novel in 2010 and ah ultimately enjoyed the process of it enough that I decided to do it for other people. And so Brainlag was born. And ah it's just grown exponentially, especially in the past four years. Since the pandemic, I'm sure that's ah entirely a coincidence.
00:07:58
Speaker
And ah we just released our 50th book. Congratulations. yes Thank you. That's impressive. So how many how many books have you yourself written and published? I have written six. So I've, yes, I've released six so far. So I have a complete fantasy trilogy. I have ah two standalone novels, a cyberpunk action adventure and a young adult fantasy. And I also wrote a chapter book. So for kids age six to nine ish.
00:08:37
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, cool. Are they all the chapter book is science fiction and fantasy too? It is. It's about a girl who lives on a space station. Oh, she finds an alien that she wants to keep as a pet. What's that book called? It's called A Jewel on Sapphire. A Jewel on Sapphire. Great name. I like it. Now, Brainlag, it's ah operating to considerable acclaim these days. I think i mean, it's it's quite recognized. People have kind of you know seen it coming now for for years and increasingly talk about it. And and I see you guys are getting you're getting reviews in the Toronto Star. so Yes. So how does it feel and how how is it going?
00:09:22
Speaker
It's going quite well. ah Like you said, there's a lot of people talking about it, and it always makes me happy to see when ah such conversations happen unprompted, which happened recently. I did a launch party in Toronto a couple weeks ago for the release of the 50th title for Derwin Mac. right a long time sci-fi author. This is his first collection of short stories. And someone who has reviewed favorably some of the books that I've published as well as Brainlag itself was sharing photos from that on their Facebook page. And ah it's just
00:10:11
Speaker
felt really great to see that, people sharing it and talking about it and saying nice things about it. And also seeing some of my authors chime in and say how happy that they are for me to be publishing them, which is a really great feeling. And I have to say too that, you know, because I'm ah dabbling, starting to dabble in that myself, and you have been ah very generous in sharing your experiences with me and some tips and advice and and super appreciate that. But that to me tells me some of the, you know, the spirit behind BrainLag. You guys are not only publishing great stuff, but you're also good people.
00:10:53
Speaker
Well, that's what I try for. And one of the things that I have learned going to a lot of conventions and selling books at festivals and things like that is that other authors are not competition. yeah Because readers will read their books as well as your books. And you know sometimes your books aren't the right fit for a certain type of reader and and another author's are. So especially with you know indie authors and small presses, we're all in it together and it helps all of us to help each other succeed.
00:11:39
Speaker
Yeah, it's the old rising tide floats all boats, right? Exactly. So ah before we get into your choice of art, and which you haven't told us yet via email or otherwise, so it's going to be a complete surprise, which we do sometimes in this podcast and I always enjoy. And so we don't actually to the right now, we have no idea. Well, it's good because it forces me to come up with a truly creative question. Oh, your question job is great. I don't know what the, what the thing is. So yeah. Yeah. Before we get to that, I wanted to ask a question that I've now completely forgotten.
00:12:13
Speaker
that so it slow What's your favorite color? no no way so ah Okay, good. i there and That was the Python test. We're calling that the Python test from now on. Yeah. Excellent. Well, you know what? I know it had something to do with ah with publishing and running a ah a publisher. ah Yeah. What the heck? Well, we'll come back to it.
Artistic Inspirations in Video Games
00:12:37
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So initially before we started recording, you asked, you know, what, what's our preference? And we, we don't really care. It can be any kind of artwork. It can be any kind of, any kind of a thing in terms of an inspiration or something that, uh, drove you to do something artistically, uh, something that you just love and I've always loved. I,
00:12:58
Speaker
It can be any of those things or all of those things. ah But I would encourage all of our future guests to think about that and say, OK, what what do I really want to talk about? So I guess that's enough time to think about it. Catherine. So ah the simple answer would be video games. OK. And in particular, Super Nintendo era Japanese role playing games. Oh, wow. Okay. That is me plead first in this podcast. That was why I was ah leaning towards this because I suspected that would be the case. hey Yeah. Yeah. Well, you're right. So what era are we talking about here? like
00:13:42
Speaker
So this would be ah early to mid 90s. So the Super Nintendo came out in 1990, I believe. okay yeah And then the next generation console from Nintendo came out in 1996. So it's okay games that came out in that period. Cool. And and what what are some of the titles? So I'm not particularly well versed in a lot of games. I never was able to play a number of different games, but ah the ones that were particularly special to me are Final Fantasy VI, Secret of Mana.
00:14:26
Speaker
And Chrono Trigger, do you know any of them? i Well, a Final Fantasy is on my list of things that I'm going to check out because apparently they've rebooted the whole thing. I'm on a PlayStation, so I need a PlayStation. So I've heard that they're, the first one's called, is it Rebirth? Is that right? Remake. Remake and Rebirth are two parts of a a complete remake of Final Fantasy VII, which was the first 3D Final Fantasy game. Gotcha. Okay, so you're talking just before that then? Yes. Okay. And what was the other one called? Chrono? Chrono Trigger.
00:15:09
Speaker
Okay. I don't know anything. else Joe probably doesn't know anything about Final Fantasy. ah yeah know what I have, I have Final Fantasy, but I've never played it. Oh wow. Okay. Well, cause I got Nintendo at one point thinking everybody's into all this gaming. I should probably give it a try and then just never had the time or never made the time. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Well, I'm excited because i've I spent the whole day, I'm not joking, I spent most of Sunday playing Baldur's Gate 3. So i you've got me, Catherine. I've heard very good things about Baldur's Gate 3. It's tremendous. It's really great experience. If you play D and&D, it's it's ah not a replication of D and&D as an experience, but it's pretty close.
00:15:54
Speaker
That's what I've heard. I certainly know some people who have sunk many hours into it. Yes. So what what was the other the krono got chrono trigger? Chrono trigger. What was that game about? Time travel. Oh, cool. It comes up again. I know it's always coming up in this podcast. Yeah, it's weird. So the main characters are from 1000 AD in their world. Even though it's not Earth, they refer to the years as AD and BC. It's a very 90s Japanese thing. right yeah But the main characters are from 1000 AD. They end up accidentally warped to 400 years before that.
00:16:50
Speaker
And then as the story unfolds, ah they meet a character who accidentally erases themself from the timeline. but So they have to fix that. And the story just kind of moves along for the first little bit. And you're just kind of ah following these characters and you know seeing where they're going. before eventually find out that there is this unspeakable, almost eldritch horror-type monster that appears in 1999 AD, which basically destroys the world. You visit a period 300 years later, and the world's still a ruin.
00:17:41
Speaker
So it's all about learning how to stop this creature. And there's a whole lot more going on as well. There's several playable characters that all have their own very interesting stories and motivations. And my personal favorite character is actually ah one of the bigger villains in the game. But spoiler alert, there is a way that ah you can add this character to your team later on. hey The way it was done in the game was very natural for the character, which was what really struck me about it. So so this game and the other games that you mentioned were games that you were playing on Nintendo in the 90s? Yes. And how did they hold up today?
00:18:32
Speaker
It varies. FOMO Fantasy VI, I think, may have aged the most just in terms of the type of storytelling. ah There's certain elements of storytelling that, again, very 90s Japanese anime style, which ah you know, just kind of comes across a little weird and it's the type of thing that ah has been addressed to mixed results with the Final Fantasy 7 remake. There's other little weird bits. There's a part in Secret of Mana in which you fight Santa Claus. He's possessed by a monster.
00:19:22
Speaker
So you you have to fight him to free him. And ah again, this is a game that takes place not on earth. So why Santa Claus is there in the first place, you know, it's just some oddness, but yeah. In terms of the story, the gameplay, and particularly the music with these three games in particular, they're definitely still very strong and very emotional. Well, that's the thing about a game is you can, if you're if you're really
00:20:00
Speaker
I think imaginative and you're playing along as the character, you get involved with the story in a way that it's different from reading fiction. When you're reading fiction, it's possible to be one route one remove from the story. Yeah. And it's a bit harder when you're playing the game, but it depends on how well the story is told in both cases, I would say. Oh, yes, absolutely. Yeah, because I know for a fact when I got to the last parts of Mass Effect 3, I got pretty verklempt. And that doesn't normally happen to me when I'm huh playing a game or reading a book or watching a movie.
00:20:43
Speaker
Especially in the case of games like Mass Effect or Baldur's Gate 3, in which the story is entirely shaped by your decisions as the player. yeah really escalates it into a different level. I mean, like I said, in Chrono Trigger, there's this part where you confront this villain character, and you can choose to fight them one last time, or to say, no, I don't want to fight, and instead they join you.
00:21:21
Speaker
And having that kind of control over the story is what really makes video games more, well, it's more interactive. And it makes you a part of the story, which to me is, you know, one of the big appeals of video games as compared to, say, reading or watching TV. Personally, I find it like it's it's the video games are the most interactive. So I do actually do find myself playing a lot of video games these days. That seems to be what I mostly want to do. And then I find fiction is probably reading is the next most interactive.
00:22:03
Speaker
Because I'm imagining it. right like im i'm I'm getting a lot of help from the author. They're giving me dialogue. They're giving me descriptions. But i'm still it's still happening in my head. um And I think, Joe, you'd agree that's what you like about doing radio and audio. right like It's all happening in the listener's head. Yeah. And then I think TV comes kind of last in a sense, like because it's presented to you, but TV is some ways the more relaxing because you don't have to do any work. You just got to reach for the chips. Yeah. You can just let it sort of watch over you and you just got to sit back and experience it. Yeah. Yeah. So I've actually fallen off of TV. Yeah.
00:22:46
Speaker
it especially in the last couple years, ah even movies and TV shows that I'm actually kind of interested in, I just can't make myself take that step to just sit down and watch it. And certainly video games, it's so much easier, you know, okay, what happens next? Yeah, like you get an actual dopamine hit from video games. Yes. Yeah. Like you get rewarded like, Oh, you managed to finish that little quest. Well, guess what? Uh, this guy's going to give you this thing and that's going to help you do the next thing. I'm like, Oh, right. Yeah. Good. but Next thing. Next thing, please. Yes. i You know, weirdly somehow I've, I've missed this bandwagon. Cause you know, I started to you know play some games in high school, which would have been in the early eighties.
00:23:40
Speaker
And they were so primitive then, but I was super into them. And then by the time you know they became less primitive, then I was in university and working and stuff, and I guess, and more into writing and and what and you know doing the creative stuff. So i it never really kind of took with me. The only game that I ever played right from beginning to end was Half-Life, and I did super enjoy it. but then never get into anything else. So, but you guys are both big gamers and you've just explained kind of what the appeal is, but you're also like hugely passionate about writing and, uh, and publishing. Would you actually be working in the gaming industry if that were easier to do more accessible than writing and publishing?
Storytelling in Games and Other Media
00:24:31
Speaker
So these days,
00:24:33
Speaker
Working in the game industry has a lot of different levels to it, kind of like publishing does. There's ah small indie game publishers. There's even ways that you can make your own game entirely by yourself. There's one famous indie game that became immensely popular and actually took this ah creator's career you know, into making AAA games and such Undertale by Toby Fox. And it's just a little indie game. It's like $10. I unfortunately still haven't gotten around to playing it yet. But it's, you know, supposedly a very heartwarming story. And
00:25:24
Speaker
really charming music. Music is definitely a big appeal ah for that game. And also for me in particular, music is a big thing for the games that I play. So it's a matter of, you know, back to your question, you know Would I be working for a AAA game studio you know making these hundreds of million dollar games? Probably not. I'd probably still be more in the indie side, you know either working with a small developer or possibly ah coding something myself. In fact, a number of years ago, I was approached by a group that made text-based games.
00:26:10
Speaker
And by a number of years ago, I mean, 2010, so it was not that long ago. This group made all sorts of games in which it was mostly text based. And basically, they hire people out to write the stories, and you just write different paths. So, you know, so-and-so happens. Now you can do A, B, or C. If you choose A, then this part happens. If you choose B, then this part happens, and so on. So that you end up with about, I think they said 50,000 words in total written.
00:26:56
Speaker
But I mean, that's the type of thing that anyone can do really. You know, it's basically like writing a choose your own adventure book, but hopefully better. Right, yeah. yeah Well, it's it has all the problems of writing a novel, and I'm i'm thinking big now because I'm thinking in terms of like games like The Last of Us, for example, which is a beautiful game and the story is fabulous, but there's some things that are dumb in it in the game. And if you play the game and then watch the first season,
00:27:32
Speaker
I would argue that the producers of the TV show actually fixed some of the story problems that were in the in the game itself. Well, it's kind of like another draft, isn't it? It really is. Yeah. And they're like, well, this doesn't, I mean, and part of it's because of the difference between a game and a TV show, right? Like part of a game is the dopamine part of the game, which is like, you got to figure out how to do stuff. And you've got to master certain things before you can get on to the next thing. And that's part of what happens in a video game. And that's going to be really boring to watch in a TV show. I mean, you don't want to watch Joel making shivs. That's not going to be interesting when he's like, oh, no, no, no, wait a minute. I got to look around for stuff so I can make a shiv. Like, no, no, no, seriously, I need more shivs. I got a shiv deficit.
00:28:24
Speaker
so Like that's – they're just different art forms in some ways, but some of the storytelling elements are the same. And I think that's where the video games are kind of cooler in a way because of – the mix of dopamine stuff that's happening, but also the fact that the person who's engaging with the media gets to decide what happens with the game. Now, sometimes the decisions are meaningless.
00:28:57
Speaker
And a lot of a lot of criticisms of video games are that, but that's just that's just a scale problem at this stage because right now it's really impossible to sort of have, you know, anything happen because we just we can't do that. But that might get fixed in the future. So I don't know. i i would If I get i asked to write on a video game, I'd be really excited about it. I would love to do it. I like being an author, though, so there's the one problem, I think, is I would just be part of a big team if I was working on a video game. As opposed to- Not a team player. Well, no, I can be a team player, but- No, I know you are a team player. I mean, I have a vision of things and I don't mind serving someone else's vision.
00:29:46
Speaker
So I guess it would just depend on the leader and what their vision was. Yeah, you it's a different art form, I think, in a big way. It is. And I think it would also depend on what exactly your role is in it. Like, are you working with a team of writers, like on a TV show, bouncing ideas back and forth to, you know, gradually create the script that is best for that episode or would you be the primary writer or possibly the only writer if you're working on a smaller game and in that case you know you get to focus on the story and such and then let other people with other experience handle those things that
00:30:36
Speaker
you know you may not have much ah experience with yourself, like you know designing the levels, doing the music and all of that. Yeah. Or are they all interconnected? that's yeah That's the thing that would excite me about working on a game. Because I imagine there's probably some cool stuff that happens when a programmer says, we figured out a way that could we could do this new thing where like you don't have to give them six choices. They can type in their own answer to the question. And then we could go with that. I'm like, well, how does that work from a storytelling perspective? Oh, well, here's how we do that.
00:31:17
Speaker
um That's kind of a cool idea and that would be interesting to work with as a writer. Absolutely. I don't know that it would be the same satisfaction as having a specific story. that you wanted to tell, which is really what we do as novelists and short story writers. And really, if you're writing a screenplay, it's the same thing or a stage play. It's the same thing. You've got a specific story you want to tell and you tell it in that way. It's a different game. Sorry, pun intended. It's a different sort of thing you're doing, right? You're doing a different thing. It's the same skill sets. So that could be fun to use your skill set in a different way.
00:31:59
Speaker
Absolutely. I just wanted to share a similar experience, especially as an author, you know, who mainly when I get down to it and work on writing, it's just me. everything's coming from me any feedback that i get you know i may or may not agree with i may or may not think it it's ah appropriate for the story ultimately what i do with that feedback again is up to me so i found it.
00:32:34
Speaker
particularly interesting, several months ago, I'm part of a community of video game arrangement ah musicians. So they create their own covers of video game music every month. And I was approached to collaborate on a song from ah this one person who they had a specific idea in mind when they started of what they wanted to do and then ah they brought in
00:33:11
Speaker
ah Me, i I don't remember what my original role was supposed to be, possibly ah playing some piano for it. ah They also brought in a drummer, a guitarist, I think a bassist as well. And the collaborative process ended up just absolutely fascinating to me. because it ended up so different from the creator's original vision and ended up something truly original to the entire group.
00:33:49
Speaker
so you know, like originally they were saying, I'd like to do two songs, one about this song and then another one about this song. And one of the people in the group, the drummer, I think chimed in and said, well, why don't you combine them and do both? And then at some point the idea of having vocals came in and I offered to write the lyrics and the guitarist ended up singing them and
00:34:20
Speaker
just being able to insert my part into this process, but you know still only having that small bit of control over it and seeing what formed as a result, I just found absolutely fascinating. And I would assume, especially if you have a small team, you know like an indie game developer, you know doing something like that, I imagine would be really interesting and satisfying to create. Yeah, I think probably the best the best thing I can think of is my first, well, I guess my second play.
00:35:03
Speaker
And i so I wrote the script and I submitted it to a theater company and they said, yes, we'd like you to produce it. And then, you know, I got, I got to meet the director and I got to meet the actors and I, that was it. I didn't, I wasn't really part of what they produced, but I was so amazed by what they produced. They found all the funny moments and they found a few more and they found some things that I didn't even know that were in there. And like it was a triumph because of them, I think, not because of what I wrote. I think it's what they brought to what I wrote that made it really cool. I wish to wish I'd have been able to be in the room a bit more because I would have loved to see the process of how they got there. But it felt really cool to go, oh, well, that's how that works. It's not a single person sport. It's a team effort.
00:35:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's collaboration. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, being able to see how other people interpret your work, you know, what they take out of it. Yeah, in real time. Yeah, like to actually see it on, ah literally on stage. It's like, oh, wow, they they got that. Wow, they really got that. They hit that real hard. ah So tell us more about your music, Catherine. How accomplished it of a musician are you? Not very much. I just try to practice with a few instruments. I haven't done a whole lot in the past ah several months due to various reasons, not least of which being time. But I do like trying to learn piano acoustic guitar. I've tried ukulele a little bit, which was
00:36:49
Speaker
a whole lot more fun than I was expecting. So I'd really like to get back to that. And I've also tried an ocarina. Okay, what's an ocarina? I don't know what an ocarina is. It is a 12-hole woodwind instrument, just about the size of maybe a potato. ah So it's really really not very big. It's not what I was expecting. Yeah, it's a very classic instrument is all I was going to say there's been examples of ocarinas or ocarina type instruments going back into BCE era. Wow. but
00:37:33
Speaker
So so you were you were not a person tend to sit on your laurels. um You write and then you're like, okay, that's not enough. I'm going to start a publishing company. And then you're not content to settle with one instrument. um You have to learn a multitude. is this ah Does this carry through to your whole life? Yeah, I suppose so. I mean, like I said, I do art, I bake, I play video games. I just, I'm interested in so much. And even within those categories, like ah lately, I've been watching some art videos, art collection videos on YouTube. And it's making me want to do more media.
00:38:20
Speaker
You know, i want I want to paint again. I want to play with oil pastels. I want to I have charcoal and markers and sumi a and so many different media that I love playing with and just don't end up having much time to do so. Mark and I were corresponding about this briefly the other day that one life is not enough. It really isn't. Yeah, you need several lifetimes to do everything that you want to do. Exactly. And this is why I am adamant that I am not going to learn how to knit or sew or anything like that. I got to put my foot down somewhere. I've already got, you know, closets full of various types of art supplies, baking supplies.
00:39:16
Speaker
okay i'm gonna I have to ask it a question and it is ah one of those questions that Mark in the past has ah labeled a horrible question. so That means it's a really good question ah for translation, okay what but a tough personal question. Well, it's a devil's advocate kind of question. yeah that okay because we had we We're talking about games. and And we're also talking about all the things that you want to accomplish in your life and all the things that you do. And part of the reason that I would like to play games, but part of the reason that I don't is because I take that time and apply it to other things. Is there any part of you guys that thinks of playing these games? What you did most of today, Mark, yeah was a waste of time.
00:40:03
Speaker
Uh, a hundred percent. In fact, I will tell you a story about that. So okay for a while there, I had games on my, my computer and actually that was the primary way that I played games. um And one of my favorite games was this little thing called Civilization, right which is a turn-based history strategy game. i prefer I prefer to call it digital crack because its it does the dopamine thing perfectly because it's like, oh, look, you've discovered pottery. Let's see what new
00:40:38
Speaker
technological pathways that opens up and what cultural things come out of learning pottery is like, oh, well, I can build the pyramids now. So let's build the pyramids. And that gets you this thing. And then like it's impossible to turn off if you want to see how those pathways emerge. So I'm not joking when I say for sure. The game Civilization, and i I'm going to say Civilization one and two because I because I took games off my computer after that, ate up at least one novel. wow The time that I spent playing that game, I could have written another novel. On the other hand,
00:41:21
Speaker
I really enjoyed playing the game a lot. And was it a waste of time? I don't think so because I did learn some things, a lot of things I already knew, but I did learn some things and it did help me in some ways, but yeah. Okay, Catherine, what about you? So partly it depends on the type of game. The games that I most enjoy are story-based. Right now I'm making my way through a series of games called Kingdom Hearts.
00:41:53
Speaker
which ah there's, well, I have 10 games in the series. These games have been particularly interesting to me because unlike a lot of the other games I've played, the story is ongoing and it builds off the previous game. So I'm finding that particularly interesting. And that's the main draw for me with a lot of these video games is I'm there for the story. I love stories. I love however they're told, whether it's through a book, through music, through a game, whatever. So in that case, absolutely not, because it's just adding more stories to my knowledge, you know, my well to draw from for my own creativity.
00:42:46
Speaker
On the other hand, I recently picked up a mobile game on my phone that I had dropped a few years ago. And it's just a dumb little match three game, but it just happens to hit all of those ah dopamine ah factors for me. And I do think a bit of that is a waste of time doing that instead of taking in like an actual story in a video game or, you know, reading a book or whatever. yeah But on the other hand, we are not machines.
00:43:27
Speaker
And we're allowed to rest and we're allowed to just veg out. And play. Yeah, exactly. And that's in defense of myself. That's what I was doing today. It's like, this was my day off. I got to just. v yeah and And to back up your point, Catherine, I also think that the story-based games are the ones that are worthwhile because that's what I play now. I don't yeah play Civilization anymore. I don't play those kinds of turn-based strategy games. So I'm i'm more interested in like the story. and
00:44:04
Speaker
And it's just, it's a more interactive way to veg out. It's better than, slightly better than TV, I would say. Hmm. Yeah. So, okay. So two things I will say about that, cause I was just playing devil's advocate. I'm not judging you guys. It was a horrible question. I'm not judging you guys. Horrible. But the, uh, yeah, part of the reason that I don't tend to play those games is because I get annoyed by the problem solving. I'm like, I just want the story. I don't want to solve your stupid problem. Just tell me the damn story. Just play on easy mode. but yeah yeah That's what I do. ah So the, uh, but I did enjoy halfway. But then the other thing I will say is that I do believe that time enjoyed is time well spent. Fully agreed. Totally agree. Yep.
00:44:50
Speaker
Yeah. And I remembered my question from earlier in the podcast. I knew you would. Excellent. You just got to let it go. Yeah. Got to let it go and I'll come back to you. So about brain lag, what kind of books do you publish and what kind of books and stories are you currently looking for?
Speculative Fiction and Diversity
00:45:09
Speaker
Broadly, I publish science fiction and fantasy, almost everything under the speculative fiction umbrella. I'm personally not that big on horror, but I've still had some submissions to that effect that have surprised me. Joe, I'm sure you're familiar with Hugh Spencer's work. oh yes very familiar yeah Extreme was my first outside submission.
00:45:38
Speaker
Which I read and enjoyed and it was. and better yet purchased. There you go. And not at all what I would have expected to publish, but I mean, that's you for you, very ah unexpected and able to reach people that so you wouldn't think about. Yeah. But yeah, I like I like classic stories. I like genre bending stories. I like, as I said, I like stories. So.
00:46:10
Speaker
I have ended up discovering a lot of very different stories. um I have some that are closer to literary than they are to specfic. I've published short story collections. I've published short books and thick tones, comedy, post-apocalyptic, It's really surprised and delighted me ah the diversity of stories that I've gotten through brain lag. So in terms of what I'm looking for, I will say that brain lag is still currently close to submissions.
00:46:54
Speaker
Due to health issues, I had to put off reopening them last summer, which I had intended to do, but I hope when I start getting caught up on things that maybe this summer I can open submissions again. But in the end, I'm just looking for a good story with some part of magic or space travel or something to it, you know. yeah yeah Speculative, a little something. The submission pub, when it is open, that must be a lot of work. It can be, but I've gotten enough submissions to be able to tell fairly early on if a story at least has a promise.
00:47:43
Speaker
And that was one of the things that I really wanted to do with brain lag is because I know there's a lot of budding authors out there who have a lot of talent and just need a little more help developing it. And so if I really believe in a project, even if it's not quite a publishable stage, I want to be able to say, yes, I can publish this. It just needs a little bit more work. And that must be very rewarding. It really is. I love being able to see the book reach its best self. that That's what we all want, right? Yeah, that's cool. That's great. Yeah. And and probably an excellent ah note to ah end on. And Les Mark, you have any further? I don't have any other questions, but I i love meeting you, Catherine. This was really fun.
00:48:41
Speaker
Yeah, it was a great conversation. And we finally got to talk about video games. I was surprised at how long it took us to get to video games. You're just going to have to bring it up yourself next time. I guess so. Yeah. Yeah. Catherine Fitzsimmons, thank you very much for being on our podcast. We're creative. And thank you very much for having me, Joe and Mark.
00:49:11
Speaker
you Recreative is produced by Mark Rainer and Joe Mahoney. Technical production of music by Joe Mahoney, web designed by Mark Rainer. Show notes in all episodes are available at recreative.ca. That's re-creative dot.ca. Drop us a line at joemahoney.donovanstreetpress.com. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks for listening.